Vilnius

My weekend was spent in the capital of Lithuania. Vilnius a seriously cool place - by far the best in the Baltics to visit. It really is a neat place to be. There is just a cool, almost chill, vibe there that doesn't exist in either Tallinn or Riga, it just feels much more European than the other two. This is probably due to the relatively low Russian population in comparison with Latvia and Estonia.

The bus arrived in Vilnius around 3pm Saturday afternoon. I was more than thrilled to be off the bus. There must have been 20 kids around the ages of 10, 11, 12 on that bus. I don't know if there is anything more aggravating than 20 Gameboys or PSPs or whatever all blaring their obnoxious video game sounds all at the same time. I couldn't fall asleep for the entire 5 hour ride. I almost lost my cool. I really wanted to just stand up and yell, "TURN YOUR FREAKING SOUND OFF!" but I didn't. I'm not sure they would have understood me even if I did.

I got to Vilnius, and like I said, it was sweet. I've given up paying entrance fees so I didn't actually go inside much - after awhile, it's all the same anyways. Instead I just wandered around, "parading" if you will. I found my way to a park in which they were having their annual folk festival. What luck! It was the best. I spent a good 2-3 hours just chilling in the park, listening to the Lithuanian folk music and eating good Lithuanian food.

I found my way over to the Vilnius Basilica. Now, I've seen a few churches over here but this was truly impressive. It was enormous and ornate in its classical styling. Unlike Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania (like its neighbor Poland) remained Catholic through the Reformation. Interestingly enough, I have never actually seen a Catholic place of worship even half full for mass; until Sunday morning. This place was packed.

Sunday morning I visited on old KGB facility. This place has been left exactly as the KGB left it in 1991 and has now been turned into a museum. I'm not sure I have been in a more disturbing place. The prison was absolutely horrifying. The "boxes," little 3ft. by 3ft. cement cells, the torture rooms, and the execution chamber were almost too much to see without getting completely depressed and disgusted.

In the "exercise yard," an outdoor but enclosed area of maybe 10ft. by 15ft., I sat down on the single bench that occupied the center of the area and just thought. The people interred there, who were not criminals but simply enemies of a motherland they had never professed allegiance to, were subject to such inhumane treatment. It was horribly depressing. What made it even more realistically unnerving was that most of the museum guides were former inmates.

I strolled through town some more after the prison. It was around 12:30pm when I received a text message from a pair of elders back in Riga in response to my query concerning the time and place of church in Vilnius (all 3 Baltic states comprise one single mission). They told me the address and time of church, which was at 1 o'clock; I had a half an hour to get directions to the chapel and get myself there. After asking a few people where the address was, I realized that only by taking a taxi would I get there in time. I grabbed a cab and made it just as the meeting was beginning. It wasn't until the sacrament was being passed that I actually ran the exchange rate and did the math in my head. Holy crap! I just spent $20usd to get to church. Ah man.

When I am in Heaven and allowed to see the replay of my life, I will definitely ask to see my face in sacrament meeting that moment. Twenty bucks; I couldn't believe it. I sure hope I got 20 bucks worth of the Spirit.

Nah, just kidding. It was worth it. I'll just have to budget that money out of the next two weeks' groceries. What can you do.